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It is usually assumed that native Americans all have purely Asian ancestry, and that the tropical features found in South America are adaptations to climate. Genetic and material evidence of black Africans crossing the Atlantic may yet emerge, but to my knowledge there is little or nothing as it stands. There are stories about Medieval Malian missions, too but material evidence seems to be lacking.
The custom of lip and ear stretching is curiously similar, witnessed among both Amazonian and African tribal peoples. However in the Amazon is is the men who wear such things, in Africa the women, invariably. It seems the practice was invented independently.
Traces of cocaine and nicotine, which only grew in the Americas, have been reportedly found in Egyptian mummies. The Ra II expedition proved that the Atlantic could have been crossed even in Egyptian-style papyrus boats, so the matter can't be ruled out. Reed boats are also used on lakes both in Africa and in South America.
However there is no historical record of ancient trans-atlantic voyaging as far as I am aware. The only accepted pre-Columbian voyages were made by Vikings, who were present in Canada in medieval times.
Other questions arise... If Van Sertima was right about the Olmecs, why are there no such monumental heads in West Africa? If Africans were such intrepid mariners, how come it seems the Indonesians were the first to colonize Madagascar? Why did the Malians (or whoever) stop sailing, leaving the Portuguese and Spanish to initiate the age of discovery?
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I don't really buy or support the idea that Africans founded the Olmec civilization but I do think Africans were capable of Sea Travel.
As far as Madagascar goes, it was first settled by Austroneasians who were known for their sea worthy vessles and their Navigation.
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My impresssion is that West Africa doesn't have many decent harbours. Most of its traditional fishing fleets are of shallow-draught boats launched from beaches, which limits the size of vessels they could build.
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The Austroneasians/Polyneasians etc were Sea Travelers probably before any other peoples. They should get credit for that. I don't see how that makes Africans less worthy sea travelers because they were beat to the punch by people who Traveled to the Americas thousands of years before Europeans and others despite the proximity of Greenland and Iceland etc.
The fact remains that Africans arrived on MAdagascar and coexisted peacefully before Arab and European traders arrived. This proves Africans both Bantu and Non Bantu learned how to Travel the Seas and make vessels to do so. I don't understand this whole facination with "First this" and "First That"...I Know that the Ethiopian Axumites as well as the Egyptians were sea worthy navigators. The Axumite Navy is reported to have sailed as far as India and even the Med.
Mali was supposed to have had a Navy(Which from my research was confined to Rivers). Im sure the West Africans had Sea worthy vessles as the story of their Travel to the Americas. Also is it not claimed that "Moors" were spotted or reported to have visited the Americas by Columbus, maybe these were the result of the Voyages of Abu Bakari.
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Some researchers claim that I am wrongly ruling out an “indigenous revolution” for the origin of the Olmec civilization. This is their opinion—the archaeological evidence, not I, suggest that the founders of the Olmec civilization were not “indigenous” people.
In the Olmec World: Ritual and Rulership (1995), (ed.) by Carolyn Tate, on page 65, we find the following statement”Olmec culture as far as we know seems to have no antecedents; no material models remain for its monumental constructions and sculptures and the ritual acts captured in small objects”.
M. Coe, writing in Regional Perspective on the Olmecs (1989), (ed.) by Sharer and Grove, observed that “ on the contrary, the evidence although negative, is that the Olmec style of art, and Olmec engineering ability suddenly appeared full fledged from about 1200 BC”.
Mary E. Pye, writing in Olmec Archaeology in Mesoamerica (2000), (ed.) by J.E. Cark and M.E. Pye,makes it clear after a discussion of the pre-Olmec civilizations of the Mokaya tradition, that these cultures contributed nothing to the rise of the Olmec culture. Pye wrote “The Mokaya appear to have gradually come under Olmec influence during Cherla times and to have adopted Olmec ways. We use the term olmecization to describe the processes whereby independent groups tried to become Olmecs, or to become like the Olmecs” (p.234). Pye makes it clear that it was around 1200 BC that Olmec civilization rose in Mesoamerica. She continues “Much of the current debate about the Olmecs concerns the traditional mother culture view. For us this is still a primary issue. Our data from the Pacific coast show that the mother culture idea is still viable in terms of cultural practices. The early Olmecs created the first civilization in Mesoamerica; they had no peers, only contemporaries” (pp.245-46).
Richard A. Diehl The Olmecs:America’s first civilization (2005), wrote “ The identity of these first Olmecs remains a mystery. Some scholars believe they were Mokaya migrants from the Pacific coast of Chiapas who brought improved maize strains and incipient social stratification with them. Others propose that Olmec culture evolved among the local indigenous populations without significant external stimulus. I prefer the latter position, but freely admit that we lack sufficient information on the period before 1500 BC to resolve the issue” (p.25).
Pool (17-18), in Olmec Archaeology and early MesoAmerica (2007), argues that continuity exist between the Olmec and pre-Olmec cultures in Mexico “[even]though Coe now appears to favor an autochthonous origin for Olmec culture (Diehl & Coe 1995:150), he long held that the Olmec traits appeared at San Lorenzo rather suddenly during the Chicharras phase (ca 1450-1408 BC) (Coe 1970a:25,32; Coe and Diehl 1980a:150)”.
Pool admits (p.95), that “this conclusion contrasts markedly with that of the excavators of San Lorenzo, who reported dramatic change in ceramic type and [b] argued on this basis for a foreign incursion of Olmecs into Olman (Coe and Diehl 1980a, p.150).”
The evidence presented by these authors make it clear that the Olmec introduced a unique culture to Mesoamerica that was adopted by the Mesoamericans. As these statements make it clear that was no continuity between pre-Olmec cultures and the Olmec culture.
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-------------------- C. A. Winters Posts: 13012 | From: Chicago | Registered: Jan 2006
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The Olmec came from Saharan Africa. They spoke a Mande language. Evidence of this connection comes from the fact:
1) both groups used jade to make their tools.
2) both groups made large stone heads. Here is an African head dating back to the same period.
3) The Mande came to Mexico in boats from the Sahara down the ancient Niger River that formerly emptied in the Sahara or they could have made their way to the Atlantic Ocean down the Senegal River.
4) The Olmec writing points back to a Mande origin in Africa.
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5) Olmec skeletons that are African.
6) Similar white, and red-and-black pottery.
7) Introduction of the 13 month 20 day calendar.
8) Mayan adoption of the Mande term for writing.
9)Mande religious and culture terms adopted by Mayan people.
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-------------------- C. A. Winters Posts: 13012 | From: Chicago | Registered: Jan 2006
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These Mexicans are Mestizos--mixed bloods. 75% of Mexicans have African admixture.
Underhill, et al (1996) noted that:" One Mayan male, previously [has been] shown to have an African Y chromosome." This is very interesting because the Maya language illustrates a Mande substratum, in addition to African genetic markers. James l. Gutherie (2000) in a study of the HLAs in indigenous American populations, found that the Vantigen of the Rhesus system, considered to be an indication of African ancestry, among Indians in Belize and Mexico centers of Mayan civilization. Dr. Gutherie also noted that A*28 common among Africans has high frequencies among Eastern Maya. It is interesting to note that the Otomi, a Mexican group identified as being of African origin and six Mayan groups show the B Allele of the ABO system that is considered to be of African origin.
Some researchers claim that as many as seventy-five percent of the Mexicans have an African heritage (Green et al, 2000). Although this may be the case Cuevas (2004) says these Africans have been erased from history.
The admixture of Africans and Mexicans make it impossible to compare pictures of contemporary Mexicans and the Olmec. Due to the fact that 75% of the contemporary Mexicans have African genes you find that many of them look similar to the Olmecs whereas the ancient Maya did not.
In a discussion of the Mexican and African admixture in Mexico Lisker et al (1996) noted that the East Coast of Mexico had extensive admixture. The following percentages of African ancestry were found among East coast populations: Paraiso - 21.7%; El Carmen - 28.4% ;Veracruz - 25.6%; Saladero - 30.2%; and Tamiahua - 40.5%. Among Indian groups, Lisker et al (1996) found among the Chontal have 5% and the Cora .8% African admixture. The Chontal speak a Mayan language. According to Crawford et al. (1974), the mestizo population of Saltillo has 15.8% African ancestry, while Tlaxcala has 8% and Cuanalan 18.1%.
The Olmecs built their civilization in the region of the current states of Veracruz and Tabasco. Now here again are the percentages of African ancestry according to Lisker et al (1996): Paraiso - 21.7% ; El Carmen - 28.4% ; Veracruz - 25.6% ; Saladero - 30.2% ; Tamiahua - 40.5%. Paraiso is in Tabasco and Veracruz is, of course, in the state of Veracruz. Tamiahua is in northern Veracruz. These areas were the first places in Mexico settled by the Olmecs. I'm not sure about Saladero and El Carmen.
But a comparison of Olmec figures with ancient Mayan figures , made before the importation of hundreds of thousands of slaves Mexico during the Atlantic Slave Trade show no resemblance at all to the Olmec figures.
This does not mean that the Maya had no contact with the Africans. This results from the fact that we know the Maya obtained much of their culture, arts and writings from the Olmecs. And many of their gods, especially those associated with trade are of Africans. We also find some images of Blacks among Mayan art.
African ancestry has been found among indigenous groups that have had no historical contact with African slaves and thus support an African presence in America, already indicated by African skeletons among the Olmec people. Lisker et al, noted that “The variation of Indian ancestry among the studied Indians shows in general a higher proportion in the more isolated groups, except for the Cora, who are as isolated as the Huichol and have not only a lower frequency but also a certain degree of black admixture. The black admixture is difficult to explain because the Cora reside in a mountainous region away from the west coast”.
Green et al (2000) also found Indians with African genes in North Central Mexico, including the L1 and L2 clusters. Green et al (2000) observed that the discovery of a proportion of African haplotypes roughly equivalent to the proportion of European haplotypes [among North Central Mexican Indians] cannot be explained by recent admixture of African Americans for the United States. This is especially the case for the Ojinaga area, which presently is, and historically has been largely isolated from U.S. African Americans. In the Ojinaga sample set, the frequency of African haplotypes was higher that that of European hyplotypes”.
M.H. Crawford et al (1974).Human biology in Mexico II. A comparison of blood group, serum, and red cell enzyme frequencies and genetic distances of the Indian population of Mexico. Am. Phys. Anthropol, 41: 251-268.
Marco P. Hernadez Cuevas.(2004). African Mexicans and the discourse on Modern Mexico.Oxford: University Press.
James L. Guthrie, Human lymphocyte antigens:Apparent Afro-Asiatic, southern Asian and European HLAs in indigenous American populations. Retrieved 3/3/2006 at: http://www.neara.org/Guthrie/lymphocyteantigens02.htm
R. Lisker et al.(1996). Genetic structure of autochthonous populations of Meso-america:Mexico. Am. J. Hum Biol 68:395-404.
Diehl, R. A., & Coe, M.D. (1995). "Olmec archaeology". In In Jill Guthrie (Ed.), Ritual and Rulership, (pp.11-25). The Art Museum: Princeton University Press.
Underhill,P.A.,Jin,L., Zemans,R., Oefner,J and Cavalli-Sforza,L.L.(1996, January). A pre-Columbian Y chromosome-specific transition and its implications for human evolutionary history, Proceedings of the National Academy of Science USA,93, 196-200.
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-------------------- C. A. Winters Posts: 13012 | From: Chicago | Registered: Jan 2006
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The Olmec religion or cult associations provide the best example of Mande: Malinke-Bambara cultural influences among the Olmecs. The best source of information on the Malinke-Bambara religion is G. Dieterlen (1957) Essai sur le religion Bambara . Dieterlen makes it clear that the Mande culture was transmitted within the Komow : traditional secret society of the Mande.
The two main deities of the Mande were Bemba and Faro. Bemba was the invisible Creator of mankind. Faro, was the visible god who was recognized as androgynous (male-female). The symbol of faro was twins. As a result, in traditional Malinke-Bambara society twins represented the two fold nature of Faro
We learn from the Dieterlen that the first Bambara-Malinke ancestors transformed into Birds and hyenas (Felines). This tradition led to the origin of the two major Mande cult associations Kuno (Bird) and Nama (Feline), gyo/jo ‘cult associations
The Nama (feline) initiatory society was organized to maintain order within society. The members of this jo were to insure ceremonial unity and defeat sorcery The leader of the Nama Jo , wear mask which combine totems of komo, horns and the mask represented immense spiritual power according to Zahan Dominique (1974), The Bambara .
The Komo was administered by sculptor-smiths. Their role was to guard society from people committing antisocial acts and protect people from malevolent spirits.
The leader of the Jo cult association was the Komo-tigi ‘chief of the komo’ . The Komo, teaches initiates ‘leadership’, self-sufficiency, military prowess and scientific knowledge.
The komo acculturated the Mande children. Thusly the children in the komo were called tigi-denw: ‘children of the tigi’ . The children often served as tigi-tuguw “carriers of the torches’.
The children belonged to the ntomo or n’domo . The ntomo association was charged with making the initiates “noble”.
And understanding of the traditional, pre-Islamic religion of the Malinke-Bambara allows us an intimate understanding of the Olmec religion.
The principal Olmec cult associations was that of the bird and the feline. This religious tradition of the Olmec, passed on to the Maya, are mentioned in the Book of Chumayel, which maintains that the three main cult associations that are suppose to have existed in ancient times were (1) the stone (cutters) cult, (2) the jaguar cult and (3) the bird cult. In lines 4-6 of the Book of Chumayel , we read that "Those with their sign in the bird, those with their sign in the stone, flat worked stone, those with their sign in the Jaguar-three emblems-".(Brotherston 1979).
The Olmec left testimony to this religious tradition in their art. These documents in sto ne indicate that the Olmec had to cult associations that of the Bird Mask and that of the Feline Mask. The Book of Chumayel, corresponds to the gylphs depicted on Monument 13 at La Venta .
. On Monument 13, at La Venta a personage in profile, he has a headress on his head and wears a breechcloth, jewels and sandals, along with four glyphs listed one above the other. The glyphs included the stone, the jaguar, and the bird emblems. Monument 13, at La Venta also has a fourth sign to the left of the personage a foot gylphs. This monument has been described as an altar or a low column.
The foot in Olmec is called "se", this symbols means to "lead or advance toward knowledge, or success". The "se" (foot) sign of the komow (cults) represent the beginning of the Olmec initiates pursuit of knowledge.
The meaning of Monument 13, reading from top to bottom, are a circle kulu/ kaba (the stone), nama (jaguar) and the kuno (bird). The interpretation of this column reading from left to right is "The advance toward success--power--for the initiate is obedience to the stone cutters cult, jaguar cult and the bird cult". The Jaguar mask association dominated the Olmec Gulf region.
In the central and southern Olmec regions we find the bird mask association predominate as typified by the Xoc bas relief of Chiapas, and the Bas Relief No.2, of Chalcatzingo. Another bird mask cult association was located in the state of Guerrero as evidenced by the humano-bird figure of the Stelae from San Miguel Amuco.
The religious orders spoken of in this stela are the Bird and Jaguar cults. These Olmec cults were Nama or the Humano-Jaguar cult; and Kuno or Bird cult. The leader of the Nama cult was called the Nama-tigi (see Nama chief Illustration 7 Stela No.5 Izapa) , or Amatigi (head of the faith). The leader of the Kuno cult was the Kuno-tigi (Kuno chief see Illustration 6 Stela No.5). These cult leaders initiated the Olmec into the mysteries of the cult.
Among the Olmecs this flame signified the luminous character of knowledge. The Kuno priest wears a conical hat(see Illustration No.6). The evidence of the conical hat on the Kuno priest is important evidence of the Manding in ancient America. The conical hat in Meso-America is associated with Amerindian priesthood and as a symbol of political and religious authority . Leo Wiener (1922, v.II: p.321) wrote that: "That the kingly and priestly cap of the Magi should have been preserved in America in the identical form, with the identical decoration,and should, besides, have kept the name current for it among the Mandingo [Malinke-Bambara/Manding] people , makes it impossible to admit any other solution than the one that the Mandingoes established the royal offices in Mexico".
Acculturation of children was an important part duty of the Olmec priesthood. As a result we find many examples of children being provided knowledge by the priest.
The Olmec child is very evident in Olmec art. To the Olmec childhood represent the primitive state of mankind, when man was pure and ignorant of nature. Thus the child in Olmec art represents the human being when he left his creator’s hands: uncircumcised and androgynous.
Adults respected children very much. This view is supported by the motifs on Altar No.5 of LaVenta. On this monument we see a personage emerging from the stone altar with the glyph po gbe ‘Pure Righteousness’ on his headdress. He is carrying a babe in his arms resting on his lap.
On the other side of the monument we see two personages, each with a different helmet style. These scenes suggest that the Olmec child was to learn wisdom, this is illustrated by the animated conversation between the child and the priest.
On the right-hand side we see a priest and a child again. This time the priest has a snake on his helmet. Instead of carrying the child on his lap in this scene, the child is carried on the personage’s side and wearing a jaguar mask. This indicates that once the child completed the initiation he was recognized a individual to be respected capable of giving advise to adults.
. These examples from Olmec iconography make it clear that the Olmec religion is exactly the same as the pre-Islamic religion of the Malinke Bambara. .
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The Olmec people, who called themselves Xi, spoke the Malinke-Bambara language and left us many inscriptions testifying to this truth.
Childress asked where is the hard archaeological evidence for the African origin of the Olmecs or Xiu people (the -u, represents the plural suffix in Olmec). This evidence is the textual material the Olmecs have left us excavated from numerous Olmec sites. This textual material provide us with keen insight into the Olmec civilization: both kings and general culture.
The best evidence for African Olmecs is the Cascajal tablet. This tablet was found last year in Mexico.
The Olmec writing on the Cascajal tablet is an obituary for a King Bi Po. This writing is written in Hieroglyphic Olmec (Winters,2006). Hieroglyphic Olmec includes multiple linear Olmec signs which are joined together to make pictures of animals, faces and other objects.
Some researchers have recognized insects and other objects in the signs. In reality these signs are made up several different Olmec linear signs (Winters,1998).
To read the Olmec writing I use the Vai script. The Vai script includes a number of syllabic signs that have been used to engrave rocks in the Sahara for the past 4000 years. I read the signs in Malinke-Bambara which was the spoken language of the Olmec.
The Olmec writing is read right to left top to bottom. Each segment of the Olmec sign has to be broken down into its individual syllabic sign. In most cases the Olmec signs includes two or more syllabic characters. The Olmec signs can be interpreted as follows:
1. La fe ta gyo 2. Bi yu 3. Pa po yu 4. Se ta I su 5. Ta kye 6. Beb be 7. Bi Po Yu to 8. Tu fa ku 9. Tu pa pot u 10. Ta gbe pa 11. i-tu 12. Bi Yu yo po 13. Kye gyo 14. Po lu 15. Fe ta yo i 16. Be kye 17. Fe gina 18. Po bi po tu 19. Lu kye gyo to 20. Kye tu a pa 21. Yu gyo i 22. Pa ku pa 23. Po yu 24. Day u kye da 25. Po ta kye tap o 26. Ta gbe 27. Bi Fa yu 28. Bi Yu / Paw
Translation Reading the Cascajal Tablet from right to left we have the following:
(8) Bi Po lays in state in the tomb, (7) desiring to be endowed with mysterious faculties.
(6) This abode is possessed by the Governor . (5)…. (4) Bi Po Po.
(3) Bi (was), (2) an Artisan desires to be consecrated to the divinity. (1) (and He) merits thou offer of libations.
(14). Admiration (for) the cult specialist’s hemisphere tomb. (13) The inheritance of thou vital spirit is consecration to the divinity.
(12) In a place of righteous admiration, (11) Pure Bi (in a) pure abode
(10) A pure mark of admiration (is) this hemispheric tomb.
(9) [Here] lays low (the celebrity) [he] is gone.
(22) The place of righteousness, [is] (21) the pure hemispheric tomb
(20) (19) Thou (art) obedient to the Order. (18) Hold upright the Order (and) the divinity of the sacred cult.
(17) Pure Admiration this place of, (16) Bi the Vital Spirit. (15) [Truly this is ] a place consecrated to the divinity and propriety.
27) Lay low (the celebrity) to go to , (26) love the mystic order—thou vivid image of the race,
(25) The pure Govenor and (24) Devotee [of the Order lies in this] hemispheric tomb ,desires [to be] a talisman effective in providing one with virtue, (23) [He] merits thou offer of Libations.
(34) Command Respect. (33)….this place of admiration. (32) Thou sacred inheritance is propriety. (31) The Govenor commands existence in a unique state, (31) [in] this ruler’s hemispheric tomb. (29) The Royal (28) [was] a vigorous man.
(36) The pure habitation (35) [of a ]Ruler obedient to the Order. (37) This abode is possessed by the governor. (38) Admiration to you [who art] obedient to the Order. (49) Pure admiration [for this] tomb. (48) Thou hold upright the pure law. (47). Pure admiration [for this tomb]. (46) [It] acts [as] a talisman effective in providing one with virtue. (45) Bi Po, (44) a pure man, (43) of wonder, (42) [whose] inheritance is consecration to the Divinity. (41) Bi Po lays in state in the tomb, (40) desiring to be endowed with mysterious faculties. (62) Bi Po lays in state in the tomb. (61) [This] tomb [is a] sacred object, (60) a place of righteous wonder. (59) Bi’s tomb (58) [is in] accord [with] the law (57) Bi exist in a unique (and) pure state the abode of the Govenor is pure.. (56) The inheritance of [this] Ruler is joy. (55) [In] this tomb of King Bi (54) lays low a celebrity, [he] is gone. (53) The tomb of Bi (52) is a dormitory [of] love. A place consacreted to the divinity. (51) Thou the vivid image of the race love(d) the mystic order. (50) [He] merits [your] offer of Libations.
This translation of the Cascajal tablet makes it clear that the tablet was written for a local ruler at San Lorenzo called Bi Po. This tablet indicates that Bi Po’s tomb was recognized as a sacred site. It also indicates that the Olmecians believed that if they offered libations at the tombs of their rulers they would gain blessings.
The Cascajal Tablet according to the road builders at the village was found in a mound. The fact that a mound existed where the tablet was found offers considerable support to the idea that the mound where the tablet was found is the tomb of BiPoPo.
The obituary on the Cascajal Tablet may be written about one of the Royals among Olmec heads found at San Lorenzo. The Cascajal Tablet may relate to the personage depicted in San Lorenzo monument 3. Head 3 San Lorenzo
We have found that the names of these rulers is probably found among the symbols associated with the individual Olmec heads. The headband on monument 3 is made up of four parallel ropes encircling the head. In the parallel ropes there are two serrated figures that cross the ropes diagonally.
There is also a plaited diadem or four braids on the back of the figure covered with serrated element. On the side of the head of monument 3, two serrated elements on four parallel lines hang. This element ends with a three-tiered element hanging.
In the Olmec writing the serrated elements means Bi, while the boxes under the serrated element within the four parallel lines would represent the words PoPo. This suggest that the name for monument 3 was probably BiPoPo.
The hanging element on monument 3 is similar to one of the signs on the Cascajal tablet. Although symbol 57 on the Cascajal monument is hard to recognize it appears to include the Bi sign on the top of the symbol. This finding indicates that the BiPoPo of monument 3, is most likely the BiPo(Po) mentioned in the Cascajal Tablet.
Cascajal Sign 57
Stirling said that monument 3 was found at the bottom of a deep ravine half-a-mile southwest of the principal mound of San Lorenzo, along with ceramic potsherds. This is interesting because the village of Cascajal is situated southwest of San Lorenzo.
According to reports of the discovery of the road builders who found the Cascajal Tablet, the tablet came from a mound at Cascajal which was located about a mile from San Lorenzo. The coincidence of finding San Lorenzo Monument 3 in the proximity of the Cascajal mound where the Cascajal Tablet was found suggest that these artifacts concern the same personage. This leads to the possibility that the Cascajal mound was the tomb of BiPoPo.
In conclusion the Cascajal Tablet is an obituary for a Olmec ruler named BiPoPo.
Given the presence of similar signs on the Olmec head called San Lorenzo monument 3, which also read BiPoPo suggest that the Cascajal Tablet was written for the personage depicted in Olmec head 3.
Head 3 San Lorenzo
If the Cascajal Tablet really corresponds to one of the Olmec heads suggest that Cascajal may have been a royal burial site. If this is the case it is conceivable that other tablets relating to Olmec rulers may also be found at this locale, since some of these other mounds may be the “hemispheric” tombs of other Olmec rulers mentioned in the Cascajal Tablet.
References to African Inscriptions:
M. Delafosse, Vai leur langue et leur ysteme d'ecriture,L'Anthropologie, 10 (1910).
Lambert, N. (1970). Medinet Sbat et la Protohistoire de Mauritanie Occidentale, Antiquites Africaines, 4, pp.15-62.
Lambert, N. L'apparition du cuivre dans les civilisations prehistoriques. In C.H. Perrot et al Le Sol, la Parole et 'Ecrit (Paris: Societe Francaise d'Histoire d'Outre Mer) pp.213-226.
R. Mauny, Tableau Geographique de l'Ouest Afrique Noire. Histoire et Archeologie (Fayard);
Kea,R.A. (2004). Expansion and Contractions: World-Historical Change and the Western Sudan World-System (1200/1000BC-1200/1250A.D.) Journal of World-Systems Research, 3, pp.723-816
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The Mande speaking people also founded Xia civilization. The Xia called themselves Xi. In the Chinese literature they were called li-min 'black people'.
The African type in Asia can be traced to the African type that lived in China. This Negro type was characterized by sindonty. The earliest examples of sindonty date back to theZhoukoudian/ Zhoudian Upper Cave type not the sundonty pattern which arrived in the Pacific with the classical mongoloid people found in Indonesia. This classical mongoloids entered Southeast Asia and the Pacific after African speaking Manding and Dravidian speaking people had already settled much of the Pacific. This is supported by the Sindonty pattern found among the Japanese ho have a Dravidian and African substratum in their language.
Secondly, archaeological research makes it clear that Negroids were very common to ancient China. F. Weidenreich ( in Bull. Nat. Hist. Soc. Peiping 13, (1938-30) noted that the one of the earliest skulls from north China found in the Upper Cave of Chou-k'ou-tien, was of an Oceanic Negroid/Melanesoid " (p.163).
These blacks were the dominant group in South China. Kwang-chih Chang,writing in the 4th edition of Archaeology of ancient China (1986) wrote that:" by the beginning of the Recent (Holocene) period the population in North China and that in the southwest and in Indochina had become sufficiently differentiated to be designated as Mongoloid and OCEANIC NEGROID races respectively…."(p.64). By the Upper Pleistocene the Negroid type was typified by the Liu-chiang skulls from Yunnan (Chang, 1986, p.69).
Many researchers believe that the Yi of Southern China were the ancestors of the Polynesian and Melanesian people.
Negroid skeletons dating to the early periods of Southern Chinese history have been found in Shangdong, Jiantung, Sichuan, Yunnan, Pearl River delta and Jiangxi especially at the initial sites of Chingliengang (Ch'ing-lien-kang) and Mazhiabang (Ma chia-pang) phases ( see: K.C. Chang, The archaeology of ancient China, (Yale University Press: New Haven,1977) p.76) . The Chingliengang culture is often referred to as the Ta-wen-k'ou (Dawenkou) culture of North China. The presence of Negroid skeletal remains at Dawenkou sites make it clear that Negroes were still in the North in addition to South China. The Dawenkou culture predates the Lung-shan culture which is associated with the Xia civilization.
The founder of the Xia civilization was Yu. The Great Yu was the regulator of the waters and the builder of canals. He is also alleged to be the inventor of wet field agriculture. Wolfram Eberhard, in The Local culture of South and East China (Leiden,1968), maintained that Yu came from the south and established the Xia dynasty in Shansi.
Archaeological evidence supports this view. The forerunner of the Xia civilization was the Lung-shan (Longshan) culture. The Taosi ruins , a Longshan between the Fenhe and Chongshan ranges is considered a middle and late Xia period site. Another important Longshanoid site is Qingliangang. The Qingliangang culture is a descendant of the Hemudu culture and dates to the fifth millennium B.C.(K.C. Chang, "In search of China's beginnings new light on an old civilization", American Scientist, 69 (1981) pp.148-160:154).
The oldest Neolithic culture in China is the Hemudu culture in northern Zhejiang province. This culture group had incised and cord-impressed pottery, rice and domesticated water buffalo, dog and pig (Chang, 1981: p.152). The Hemudu pottery is reminiscent of pottery found along the coastal areas of southeastern China and Taiwan (Chang, 1981: p.154). This indicates that southern Chinese, who were predominantly Black early settled those parts of China associated with the Xia and Shang civilizations.
In the Chinese literature the Blacks were called li-min, Kunlung,Ch'iang (Qiang), Yi and Yueh. The founders of the Xia Dynasty and the Shang Dynasties were blacks. These blacks were called Yueh and Qiang. The modern Chinese are descendants of the Zhou. The second Shang Dynasty ( situated at Anyang) was founded by the Yin. As a result this dynasty is called Shang-Yin. The Yin or Oceanic Mongoloid type is associated with the Austronesian speakers ( Kwang-chih Chang,"Prehistoric and early historic culture horizons and traditions in South China", Current Anthropology, 5 (1964) pp.359-375 :375). The Austronesian or Oceanic Mongoloid type were called Yin, Feng, Yen, Zhiu Yi and Lun Yi.
During the Anyang-Shang period, the Qiang lived in Ch'iang Fang, a country to the west of Yin-Shang . The Qiang people were often referred to as the Ta Qiang "many Qiang", they were used as agricultural workers, and used in Yin-Shang ancestral rites as sacrifice victims.
In Southeast Asia and southern China, ancient skeletal remains represented the earliest inhabitants as identical to the Oceanic type ( Kwang-chih Chang, The archaeology of ancient China, (New Haven,1977) p.42; G.H.R. von Koenigswald, A giant fossil hominoid from the Pleistocene of Southern China, Anthropology Pap. Am Museum of Natural History, no.43, 1952, pp.301-309). Although Negritos were also established in north and southern China by the beginning of the Recent (Holocene) period the populations in North China and that in southern China and IndoChina had become sufficiently differentiated to be designated as Mongoloid and Negroid-Oceanic respectively, both having evolved out of a common Upper Pleistocene substratum as represented by the Tzu-yang and Liu-Chiang skulls.
In addition to Oceanic Blacks in Southeast Asia and southern China shortly before the Christian era Africoids of the Mediterranean type entered these areas by way of India. Much of the archaeology in southern China is related to the Southeast Asian patterns, with numerous finds of chipped stone of the type found in Schewan, Kwangsi.Yunan and in the western part of Kwangtung as far as the Pearl River delta.( Chang, 1977, p.76. ) Neolithic culture of southern China as the people were parallel to southeastern development. It seems from the evidence that in China there were several major areas where the Neolithic way of life characterized by farming for food, use of pottery and the making of stone instruments.
In Southern China the most well known early cultures were the Ta-p'enK'eng culture of the southeastern coast, cultures dating to the 5th millennium. The Ta-p'en-K'eng sites have a characteristic cord-marked pottery dating to before third millennium. A radio-carbon date is available for this culture of 4450-4350 BC. The color of the pottery ranges from buff to dark brown, the principal shapes of the vessels are large globular jars and bowls. The people of this culture also made many stone sinkers and dugout canoes. There is believed to have been an early horticultural revolution in the tropical regions of Southeast Asia, with the domestication of several cultigens. As in Africa this culture was Aqualithic with most of the people living on mounds and pilled houses. This horticulturalist ate aquatic animals such as fish and shellfish, and grew root crops such as yam and taro .The Ta-p'en-K'eng site has provided much insight into their agricultural origins as indicated by the great variety of cord marks on the pottery demonstrates. The habitat of the ancient people who made this ware at Ta-p'en-K' eng, was widespread in IndoChina and even in southern China and Japan. The Hoabinhian culture of Vietnam and that of Ta-p' en-K'eng, were characterized by cord-marked pottery which is identical in both places , and it is possible that the Yang-shao site at Huang Ho basin in North China may have also been founded by blacks in southern China who probably been the cultivation of rice. In the southeast southerners began at Hupeh and Kuangsi the cultivation of means of artificial irrigation and by terracing of the mountain slopes. These same Austronesians were already using bronze before the Chinese. The women's standing was high, she participated in the worship which consisted of a mountain and snake cults. There is evidence from the physical anthropologist that skeletons from Shantung and Kiangsu show resemblances to the Negroid type of southern Chinese rather than Mongoloid, especially at the initial Ch'ing-lien -Kang and Ma chia-pang phases. As a result of this evidence it seems that agriculture was widely practiced in Southeast Asia and China long before the full impact of farming was felt in the North among the Chinese.
Neolithic technology in south China is typified by hunting with the bow and arrow. The stone inventories include shoulder axes, as those found at Ya-an in Sikang, and the island of Hainan. The ceramics are characterized by the long persistence of corded red ware. There was also painted pottery, black pottery, stone knives and sickles and pottery tripods , styles that later were duplicated in bronze. The people practiced single burials the appearance of decapitated heads at many sites in China suggest war and the expansion of the Chinese southward.
In ancient times due to the Chinese being a nomadic group, they probably cremated their dead and learned to bury their dead from the Blacks. The southern Chinese probably had their own writing system at an early date considering the - fact that they were well known traders and most trader-groups developed a script to keep records, yet we can not be sure of this fact. Moreover, the appearance of similar pottery signs on South Chinese pottery and North Chinese pottery indicate a common ideology for both groups.
Many of the elements of southern Chinese cultures and the implements found in this area and Southeast Asia show an interrelationship. The people who live in Southeast Asia today speak the Austro-Asiatic languages, which are closely related to the Austronesian group. As indicated by the languages of the aborigines Ta-p'en-K'eng sites are found spoke Austronesian languages, the cultures of these groups were also Austronesian according to Dr. Shun-sheng Ling .
As in the African aqualithic, an extensive mound culture existed in China, an area stretching from the plateau in the west to the Western coast of the Pacific ocean, it includes the Huang-Huai(the Yellow River and the Huai River) plain of North China and the plain of the lower valley of the Yangtze River of central China, these mounds lie in the Ancient line of the Austronesian habitation. In accordance with oral tradition and Chinese proto-history mounds were in existence during the time of Huangti, and Fu-Hsi as reflected in the legendary narrative of the burial of Tai-Hao at Wan Chiul - chiu.
The mound culture began around 3,000 BC in China 7,000 years after a similar culture had developed in central and North Africa, which moved step by step to the lower valley of the Yangtze River, starting originally from the lower valley of the Yellow River. By about 1200 BC, the people practiced agriculture and ate aquatic animals. At the Kiangsu Province mound site called the Hu Shu culture, the mounds were man-made knolls called 'terraced sites '. The mounds are flat on the top, here the people placed their dwellings. These mounds served three purposes i) burial mounds, ii) religious places (i.e.,high ground) and iii) habitation. The mounds are believed to have been introduced by the people to China from the Euphrates-Tigris valley who are believed to have introduced the arts .
In conclusion, the sundonty pattern had nothing to do with the rise of man in the New World or the Pacific. C.G. Turner's research makes it clear that the early Americans were sindonty not sundonty (see: Turner, "Teeth and prehistory in Asia, Scientific American,(Feb.1989) 88-96), in fact he places the origin of these sindonty people in Northern China at Zhoukoudian Upper Cave. The idea for an African influence in the rise of man in this area is clearly supported by the archaeological, toponymic and linguistic evidence.
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Leo Wiener, in Africa and the Discovery of America also discussed the fact that the West African zodiacs are of 13 months like that of the Amerindians ( Vol.3, p.279). This information is based on the work of F.Bork, Tierkreise auf westafrikanischen Kalebassen, in Mitteilungen der vorderasiatischen Gesellschaft, Vol.21, p.266.
Wiener wrote: “In the first place, the central square contains the Mandingo tutelary god with his attributes and appurtenances. The numerical calculations based on 20 and 13, which is the essence of the American calendars, is surely built on African models. Here again we possess but the scantiest material for verification, but just enough to be startling and unique”(p.270).
Coe and Stone, Reading the Maya Glyphs wrote : "The first part of a Calendar Round is the 260-day Count, often called in the literature by the ersatz Maya name "tsolk'in". This is the eternally repeating cycle , and concist of the numbers 1 through 13, permuting against a minicycle of 20 named days. Since 13 and 20 have no common denominator, a particular day name will not recur with a particular coefficient until 260 days have passed. No one knows exactly when this extremely sacred calendar was invented, but it was certainly already ancient by the time the Classic period began. There are still highland Maya calendar priests who can calculate the day in the 260-day Count, and it is apparent that this basic way of time-reckoning has never slipped a day since its inception" (pp.41-42).
This sacre calendar has 13 months of 20 days (13x20=260). John Montgomery, How to Read Maya Hieroglyphs, wrote "The Tzolk'in or 260 day Sacred Almanac, was widely used in ancient times for divinatory purposes. Guatemalan Maya and other cultures in Mexico still use it as a means of "day keeping". The origins of the 260-day calendar are debatable although a number of scholars have suggested it corresponds to the nine month period of human gestation" (p.74).
Lets recap Wiener noted the existence of 13 month 20 day zodiacs in West Africa, and the American sacre calendar of 20 days and 13 months. Coe and Montgomery says the 13 month 260-day calendar continues to be used in Guatemala and other cultures up to today.
This proves that you are making claims without any foundation. It further supports Leo Wiener's discussion of the 13 month calendar of the Americans that you dispute.
As pointed out on numerous occasions during this debate many Mayan groups record successfully time only using the 13 month 20 day calendar so there was no need for the Olmec to record a date and use a system like the Haab (Tun+ Wayeb ) to determine its actual time. A similar calendar of 13 months and 20 days was recorded on West African calabashes.
You speak of evaluating evidence. Oh You Great Deciever, you cannot be trusted to tell the truth.
First of all science is based on hypotheses testing. Wiener made a number of claims:
1. West Africans had a 13 month zodiac. 2. There was a Mande origin for the Mayan notation system. 3. Mande writing was the source of the inscriptions on the Tuxtla statuette.
These premises provides several testable hypothesis in relation to the Mande-Olmec and Mayan connection:
There will be a relationship between Mande and Mayan languages. There will be a relationship between Mande and Mayan numerals and system of notation. There will be a relationship between Mande and Mayan calendrics.
Now that we have these hypotheses we will test them. Most of the solution for these hypotheses comes from Robert J. Sharer ,The Ancient Maya (5th Edition,1994)
The Mande use a base 20 notation syste,. The Maya did not use a base 10 system, the base number was 20 like the Mande system. Base 20 is vigesimal. Landa wrote:
quote:
Not only did the Indians have a count for the year and months, as has been said and previously set out, but they had a certain method of counting time and their affairs by their ages, which they counted by twenty year periods, counting thirteen twenties, with one of the twenty signs of their months, which they call Ahau/Ajaw
Sharer, p.572
This makes it clear that the Maya had a base 20 notation system. . The Mayan values like the Mande increased by powers of twenty (Sharer, p.558).
That they used this system to record time. Use of the term Ajaw “lord’is interesting. This term is cognate to the Olmec term gyo/ jo the term used to describe the Olmec rulers duties as both ruler and religious leaders. In addition to this term the Mayans adopted other Mande terms
English Mande Mayan
Birth si sij
God Ku Ku
Demi-God-King Gyo/Jo Ajaw
Day kene k’in
In relation to the Mayan zodiac Sharer wrote:” The ancient Maya may have had a zodiac, composed of thirteen houses” (months) or a 13 uinal (month) 20 k’in (day ) 13x20= 260.This agrees with the calabash calendars in West Africa.
This zodiac formed the bases of the Mayan sacre calendar which was 260 days or 13x20. The ceremonial practices of the Maya were determined by the sacre calendar.
Mats play an important role in Mande calculations. The mat and mat motifs play an important role in Mayan society as well.
In fact the ruling title on mayan emblem signs is ah po ‘lord of the mat’. In fact the symbol of Mayan rulership was pop (a woven mat).
In conclusion, Wiener’s work provides three testable hypotheses:
There will be a relationship between Mande and Mayan languages. There will be a relationship between Mande and Mayan numerals and system of notation. There will be a relationship between Mande and Mayan calendrics.
As illustrated above the Mande notation system of 20 and 60 is also the system of the Maya. The Mayan name for day k’in, may also be of Mande origin since it agrees with the Malinke-Bambara term kenè that means ‘day light, day’. The Mayan term for series of 360 days is tun, this corresponds to the Mande term dõ-na ‘an arrangement of dates/days’, the Mande term for calendar is dõ-gyãle-la. The Mayan speakers probably used tun, because they learned the Mande calendar in association with ritual days of the Mande speaking Olmecs.
All of these hypotheses were confirmed. The Maya and Mande share similar zodics and base 20 notation system. In addition, many of the key terms relating to Mayan ritual and religion agree with Mande terms . The evidence leads us to only one conclusion the Mande speaking Olmec introduced base 20 notation systems and calendrics to the Mayan Indians.
-------------------- C. A. Winters Posts: 13012 | From: Chicago | Registered: Jan 2006
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quote:Originally posted by -Just Call Me Jari-: The Austroneasians/Polyneasians etc were Sea Travelers probably before any other peoples. They should get credit for that. I don't see how that makes Africans less worthy sea travelers because they were beat to the punch by people who Traveled to the Americas thousands of years before Europeans and others despite the proximity of Greenland and Iceland etc.
The fact remains that Africans arrived on MAdagascar and coexisted peacefully before Arab and European traders arrived. This proves Africans both Bantu and Non Bantu learned how to Travel the Seas and make vessels to do so. I don't understand this whole facination with "First this" and "First That"...I Know that the Ethiopian Axumites as well as the Egyptians were sea worthy navigators. The Axumite Navy is reported to have sailed as far as India and even the Med.
Mali was supposed to have had a Navy(Which from my research was confined to Rivers). Im sure the West Africans had Sea worthy vessles as the story of their Travel to the Americas. Also is it not claimed that "Moors" were spotted or reported to have visited the Americas by Columbus, maybe these were the result of the Voyages of Abu Bakari.
Axum would have had to be a sea power as at one time it staddled the Red Sea. Odd that Ethiopia subsequently became a land-locked empire. probably a precaution against hostile Arabian shipping. Europeans also retreated from the coast due to the danger from the Barbary pirates, whose raids took them as far as Baltimore in Ireland, where the whole town was taken away captive.
On early contact between the new and old world, one interesting piece of evidence is a carved head found in a pre-columbian Aztec burial excavated in 1933, which has been identified as Roman.
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Prudence M. Rice in Maya Calendar Origin, makes it clear that the Maya sacre calendar of 13 month 20 days include the day names: ‘rain, Lord, world, snake ,deer and rabbit (see p.34). This is interesting because the same characters are found on the 13month calabash from West Africa.
Mande calendrics are the result of a combination climatic, social andastronomical factors. The moon, seasons and stars are used for reckoning time. The major star studied by the Mande is Sirius.
Mats play an important role in Mande calculations. The mat and mat motifs play an important role in Mayan society as well.
If you look at this calabash you will notice that in the center of the calabash we have a figure that resembles the Kanaga sign. It also very interesting that this Kanaga figure also includes a mat constituting the central design in the figure.
The characters on this calabash are explained by Mande cosmology. We see the following charaters on this almanac.
1. 2 lizards pointing out the four directions (North, South, East and West) plus the mat in the center of the four directions. These lizard figures probably represent the world. 2. Antelope (deer) 3. 7 circles or the Pleides 4. butterfly 5. bow/ double sword 6. grain/tree 7. 2 people representing humanity and the headrest denoting royalty in African societies 8. Crescent Moon & star (Venus?) 9. heart or ace of club figure 10. rabbit/hare 11. crocodile & snake 12. Crane 13. Calabash or bowl
These figures on the Calabash are ritual emblems associated with Malinke-Bambara.The Malinke-Bambara recognized the Sirius system in their cosmology.
In relation to the Lizard in facing upward we see the calabash or bowl on the right hand side. This calabash may represent the water bowl of Faro, the leading god of the Bambara. On the left hand side of this Lizard we see the seven circles, which are believed to have represented the seven stars of the Pleides. Among the Malinke-Bambara and other West African people the Pleides was a marker of the growing season.
The second Lizard is facing left. Above the right arm we see the seven stars of the Pleides. Below the right are we see the double sword which may represent Orion’s sword. Orion’s sword is that region of the sky below Orion’s belt that includes the Orion Nebula. It is interesting that in relation to the Pleides and Sword of Orion, we see the rabbit/hare. This is most interesting because Orion was said to be the hunter of the hare/rabbit.
The Antelope is believed to have taught human beings to farm. It relates to the Malinke-Bambara tradition that a half-man half-antelope introduced agriculture to mankind.
The Crane is also related to Malinke-Bambara tradition. Among the Bambara the Crested Crane is credited with the birth of speech.
The adult figure on the calabash and the head rest make it clear that this figure represented a Lord of dignitary. Finally the heart shaped or ace of clubs figure probably represents the flani da. The flani da symbolized the One Creator.
This interpretation of the calabash from the Guinea coast suggest that it records some event that involved agriculture. It also suggest that it corresponds to Malinke-Bambara traditions.
The Maya day signs: Lord ,World, snake, deer, and rabbit are found on the sacre calendar of the Maya. As noted above these same signs are found on the Guinea calabash calendar (or almanac ?). We have shown how the signs on the Guinea calabash are explained by Malinke-Bamabara ideology. The similarity in Mayan and Malinke-Bambara ideology found in the calendrics can best be explained by the fact that the Maya and other Amerind groups got this calendar from the Olmecs, who I have shown spoke Malinke-Bambara. These shared ideology for the figures on the sacre Mayan calendars and the Guinea coast calabash support the view of Leo Wiener in Africa and the Discovery of America that the calendars were related.
In summary this calabash confirms the theory of Leo Wiener, that the Mayan sacre calendar was related to calendars in West Africa.
The Mayan calendar is further evidence of the Atlantic Crossing.
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-------------------- C. A. Winters Posts: 13012 | From: Chicago | Registered: Jan 2006
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quote:Originally posted by -Just Call Me Jari-: The Austroneasians/Polyneasians etc were Sea Travelers probably before any other peoples. They should get credit for that. I don't see how that makes Africans less worthy sea travelers because they were beat to the punch by people who Traveled to the Americas thousands of years before Europeans and others despite the proximity of Greenland and Iceland etc.
The fact remains that Africans arrived on MAdagascar and coexisted peacefully before Arab and European traders arrived. This proves Africans both Bantu and Non Bantu learned how to Travel the Seas and make vessels to do so. I don't understand this whole facination with "First this" and "First That"...I Know that the Ethiopian Axumites as well as the Egyptians were sea worthy navigators. The Axumite Navy is reported to have sailed as far as India and even the Med.
Mali was supposed to have had a Navy(Which from my research was confined to Rivers). Im sure the West Africans had Sea worthy vessles as the story of their Travel to the Americas. Also is it not claimed that "Moors" were spotted or reported to have visited the Americas by Columbus, maybe these were the result of the Voyages of Abu Bakari.
Axum would have had to be a sea power as at one time it staddled the Red Sea. Odd that Ethiopia subsequently became a land-locked empire. probably a precaution against hostile Arabian shipping. Europeans also retreated from the coast due to the danger from the Barbary pirates, whose raids took them as far as Baltimore in Ireland, where the whole town was taken away captive.
On early contact between the new and old world, one interesting piece of evidence is a carved head found in a pre-columbian Aztec burial excavated in 1933, which has been identified as Roman.
People from ancient Ethiopia made their way to ancient America. They left inscriptions testfying to their early presence.
quote:
Nascodex
Rediscovering the History of the Andean Peoples
NEWS RELEASE No. 1.2:
EPIGRAPHY. Discovery of an inscription written in characters of 3rd Century B.C. Phoenicia within the Nasca Lines.
Introduction. Startling and certain to be contraversial, a gigantic inscription sculpted in a character style typical of 3rd Century B.C. Phoenician has been located on a remote mountain plateau near Palpa a small township some 20 kms north east of Nasca, in Peru.
Discovered whilst researching surface texture changes to geoglyphic features within the Nasca Lines complex , the inscription may help to explain why certain pre-Incaic statues are of bearded humans and others negroid in appearance. Why puquios and sub-terranean drainage systems resemble those of Iran, but most importantly how primitive cultures of early Precolumbian Peru might have acquired the sophisticated geometry and surveying ability to construct the Nasca Lines archaeological monument. EXPERTS OPINION: Dr Jorge Alonso, one of Spain’s most prestigious Historian, Sociologist and Epigraphic experts states : “ Without a doubt the script is Phoenician, circa 3rd century B.C. and syllabic, possibly from Armenia or Caldea, or others parts of Syria-or perhaps a region close by “.
( Dr Alonso has given full permission to reproduce this statement ).
Dr Clyde Winters ,PhD, Adjunct Professor Educational and Linguistics, University of Saint Savior, Chicago, Illinois ,makes the following comment: “ The signs resemble Ethiopic writing with a vowel attached to each symbol, thus I cannot be sure that my interpretation is correct . To ensure the translation has some validity generic roots are used to interpret the signs; these can be found in any Semitic language dictionary “.
Dr Winters transliteration:
Come down ( into the earth) and spread this.....
Strain and pacify the water (in the area)
Come and spread ( within this region).Grace.
Go out ( among the land) and become strong.
Dr Winters further commented: “ It would be interesting if this area was settled in the past and provided arable land and water for the ancient farmers”. (Reproduced with permission from Dr Winters).
This question can be answered by reference to Papers concerning extensive research in the Rio Grande de Nasca drainage by Dr Helaine Silverman (Associate Professor & Chair, Dept. of Anthropology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) and Dr David Browne, (Government Archaeologist, Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales) conducting a similar programme of research in the Rio Palpa , Rio Viscas & Rio Grande river valley areas. Both confirm there is substantial evidence of extensive domestic habitation sites, civic/ceremonial centres, architecture and cemetery sites occupied at the time of the Nasca Culture, 200 BC - 600 AD.
David Johnson (Adjunct Research Associate, Department of Anthropology, University of Massachusetts) and a team of hydrogeologists and archaeologists are currently in the Palpa region studying archaeological sites affiliated to surface geoglyphic activity ,sub-terranean water flows (aquifers) and their associated puquios (wells). Similar research activity is being conducted by Dr Markus Reindel of KAVA (Kommission fur Allgemeine und Vergleichende Archaeologie ) .
(By drawing the readers attention to the above programmes of research the author wishes to make it clear that the Persons and Institutions named are not associated in any way with the Nascodex project , or any conclusions drawn by the author).
In his transliteration of the Palpa Inscription, Dr Winters appears quite unknowingly to have stumbled upon possibly the correct interpretation of the text- a dedication instruction by a “Priest-God” exhorting his followers to :
Come, carve (dig) down into the earth,
Pacify ,control and increase the waters,
Make them flow forth into the region,
Gaining grace and favour,
Go out among the people ,become
strong Leaders.
Authors interpretation.
The question still remains; Who was the Priest-God and his Followers ; When and where did they come from ?. An inscription written in Ethiopic script 200-300 B.C. Knowledge of water hydraulics similar to that used in Iran for many centuries (qanats) - located on a desert pampa 3500 kms across the other side of the world from Southern Arabia ?.Many questions still need to be answered.
UP-DATE :
The 3rd century B.C. date for the “Phoenician “ inscription has been strengthened by discovery of potsherds in the region of Palpa ( Reindel/Isla 1999 ) attributed to the Paracas /Middle Ocucaje Phase, i.e. circa 300 B.C. It is not known if artifacts of this period were found within or around stone heaps making up inscription characters.
The transliteration by Dr Clyde Winters has an added dimension also: A study by Jeanette Sherbondy ( 1982 ) and we quote.....”A modern myth from Puquio ( Ayacucho ) states that ancestors travelled sub-terranean aquatic routes. The ancestors created springs and openings in the earth. They distributed lands and waters to each people”.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Aveni, Anthony. F. “Between the Lines” (Univ. Texas Press. 2000)
Browne,Dr David M . "Further archaeological reconnaisance in the Province of Palpa".
Contributions to New World archaeology. Oxford: Oxbow Books.
"Peru’s Nasca Lines point to water sources" - suggests U.Mass researchers http://www.umass.edu
Reindel, Markus and Isla Johny, ( 1999 ) Das Palpa - Tal: Ein Archiv der Vorgesichte Perus. Geheimnisvolle im alten Peru, ed. Judith Rickenbach (1985) pp.177 - 98 Museum Rietberg, Zurich, Switzerland.( cited in “The Nasca”).
Silverman Helaine (1990) "Beyond the Pampa: the Geoglyphs in the Valleys of Nazca" National Geographic Research 6(4):435 - 456.
Silverman H, Browne DM (1991)"New evidence for the date of the Nazca Lines" Antiquity 65 (1991 ) 208 - 20.
Silverman - Proulx: “The Nasca “. (Blackwell Publishing. UK and USA 2002 ).
Sherbondy, Jeanette ( 1982 ) The canal systems of Hanan Cuzco. Un-published dissertation, Dept. of Anthropology, University of Illinois at Urbana - Champaign.(cited in “The Nasca”).
Subject matter has full copyright protection under reference INPI 124427. Reproduction and distribution prohibited without permission from NASCODEX.
posted
Another simple explaination that I have proposed: Olmecs were indigenous Black Americans similar to the same people as Luzia (Paleo-Indian).
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The Olmecs were not the first Africans to create a civilization in Mexico. The Olmecs came from the ancient Sahara and West Africa. Some of these people may go back to Luiza.
The Ocos and other Blacks were INDIGENOUS to MEXICO when the Olmec arrived in Mexico around 1200 BC.
Africans founded many of the earliest civilizations in the New World. We do not know when these Blacks arrived in the Americas. Scientists theorize that over 5000 years ago a group of African settlers sailing along the West African coast, in their papyrus trading vessels were caught in a storm and drifted aimlessly out to sea. In the Atlantic ocean they were captured by the South Equatorial current and carried across the Atlantic towards the Americas.
We can assume that due to the ability of these explorers to navigate by the stars they were probably able to make a return trip to West Africa. Much of West Africa 5000 years ago was unoccupied. This means that the populations that later moved into West Africa were living in Middle Africa,and the Sahara. These people due to a different climate in the Sahara at this time traveled from community to community by sea. It seems logical to assume that one of these Paleo-African groups travelled down the long extinct rivers of Middle Africa and sailed out into the Atlantic Ocean and was carried to the Americas by the powerful currents found in the Atlantic Ocean.
Mexico and Central America were centers of African civilization 5000 years ago. In Belize , around 2500 B.C., we see evidence of agriculture. The iconography of this period depicts Africoids. And at Izapa in 1358 B.C., astronomer-priests invented the first American calendar. In addition numerous sculptures of blacks dating to the 2nd millennium B.C, have been found at La Venta, Chiapas, Teotihuacan and Tlatilco.
Chiapas Blacks
The African voyagers to the New World came here in papyrus boats. A stone stela from Izapa, Chiapas in southern Mexico show the boats these Africans came in when they sailed to the Americas. These boats were carried across the Atlantic ocean to Mexico and Brazil, by the North Equatorial current which meets the Canaries Current off the Senegambian coast. It is interesting to note that papyrus boats are still being built in West Africa today.
The earliest culture founded by Blacks in Mexico was the Mokaya tradition. The Mokaya tradition was situated on the Pacific coast of Mexico in the Soconusco region. Sedentary village life began as early as 2000BC. By 1700-1500 BC we see many African communities in the Mazatan region. This is called the Barra phase or Ocos complex.
During the Barra phase these Blacks built villages amd made beautiful ceramic vessels often with three legs. They also made a large number of effigy vessels.
The figurines of the Ocos are the most significant evidence for Blacks living in the area during this period. The female figurine from Aquiles Serdan is clearly that of an African woman. Ocos Female
The Blacks of the Mokaya traditions were not Olmec. The civilization of the Mokaya traditions began 700 years before the Olmec arrived in Mexico.
In the Olmec World: Ritual and Rulership (1995), (ed.) by Carolyn Tate, on page 65, we find the following statement“Olmec culture as far as we know seems to have no antecedents; no material models remain for its monumental constructions and sculptures and the ritual acts captured in small objects”./b]M.
Coe (1989), observed that[b] “on the contrary, the evidence although negative, is that the Olmec style of art, and Olmec engineering ability suddenly appeared full fledged from about 1200 BC”.
Mary E. Pye, writing in Olmec Archaeology in Mesoamerica (2000), (ed.) by J.E. Cark and M.E. Pye,makes it clear after a discussion of the pre-Olmec civilizations of the Mokaya tradition, that these cultures contributed nothing to the rise of the Olmec culture. Pye wrote “The Mokaya appear to have gradually come under Olmec influence during Cherla times and to have adopted Olmec ways. We use the term olmecization to describe the processes whereby independent groups tried to become Olmecs, or to become like the Olmecs” (p.234). Pye makes it clear that it was around 1200 BC that Olmec civilization rose in Mesoamerica. She continues “Much of the current debate about the Olmecs concerns the traditional mother culture view. For us this is still a primary issue. Our data from the Pacific coast show that the mother culture idea is still viable in terms of cultural practices. The early Olmecs created the first civilization in Mesoamerica; they had no peers, only contemporaries” (pp.245-46).
Cherla
There continues to be no evidence that Olmec civilization originated in Mexico. R.A. Diehl, in The Olmecs (Thames & Hudson, 2004) wrote that “The identity of these first Olmecs remain a mystery. Some scholars believe they were Mokaya migrants from the Pacific coast of Chiapas who brought improved maize strains and incipient social stratification with them. Others propose that Olmec culture evolved among local indigenous populations without significant external stimulus. I prefer the latter position, but freely admit that we lack sufficient information on the period before 1500 B.C. to resolve the issue” (p.25).
quote:Originally posted by -Just Call Me Jari-: The Austroneasians/Polyneasians etc were Sea Travelers probably before any other peoples. They should get credit for that. I don't see how that makes Africans less worthy sea travelers because they were beat to the punch by people who Traveled to the Americas thousands of years before Europeans and others despite the proximity of Greenland and Iceland etc.
The fact remains that Africans arrived on MAdagascar and coexisted peacefully before Arab and European traders arrived. This proves Africans both Bantu and Non Bantu learned how to Travel the Seas and make vessels to do so. I don't understand this whole facination with "First this" and "First That"...I Know that the Ethiopian Axumites as well as the Egyptians were sea worthy navigators. The Axumite Navy is reported to have sailed as far as India and even the Med.
Mali was supposed to have had a Navy(Which from my research was confined to Rivers). Im sure the West Africans had Sea worthy vessles as the story of their Travel to the Americas. Also is it not claimed that "Moors" were spotted or reported to have visited the Americas by Columbus, maybe these were the result of the Voyages of Abu Bakari.
Axum would have had to be a sea power as at one time it staddled the Red Sea. Odd that Ethiopia subsequently became a land-locked empire. probably a precaution against hostile Arabian shipping. Europeans also retreated from the coast due to the danger from the Barbary pirates, whose raids took them as far as Baltimore in Ireland, where the whole town was taken away captive.
On early contact between the new and old world, one interesting piece of evidence is a carved head found in a pre-columbian Aztec burial excavated in 1933, which has been identified as Roman.
People from ancient Ethiopia made their way to ancient America. They left inscriptions testfying to their early presence.
quote:
Nascodex
Rediscovering the History of the Andean Peoples
NEWS RELEASE No. 1.2:
EPIGRAPHY. Discovery of an inscription written in characters of 3rd Century B.C. Phoenicia within the Nasca Lines.
Introduction. Startling and certain to be contraversial, a gigantic inscription sculpted in a character style typical of 3rd Century B.C. Phoenician has been located on a remote mountain plateau near Palpa a small township some 20 kms north east of Nasca, in Peru.
Discovered whilst researching surface texture changes to geoglyphic features within the Nasca Lines complex , the inscription may help to explain why certain pre-Incaic statues are of bearded humans and others negroid in appearance. Why puquios and sub-terranean drainage systems resemble those of Iran, but most importantly how primitive cultures of early Precolumbian Peru might have acquired the sophisticated geometry and surveying ability to construct the Nasca Lines archaeological monument. EXPERTS OPINION: Dr Jorge Alonso, one of Spain’s most prestigious Historian, Sociologist and Epigraphic experts states : “ Without a doubt the script is Phoenician, circa 3rd century B.C. and syllabic, possibly from Armenia or Caldea, or others parts of Syria-or perhaps a region close by “.
( Dr Alonso has given full permission to reproduce this statement ).
Dr Clyde Winters ,PhD, Adjunct Professor Educational and Linguistics, University of Saint Savior, Chicago, Illinois ,makes the following comment: “ The signs resemble Ethiopic writing with a vowel attached to each symbol, thus I cannot be sure that my interpretation is correct . To ensure the translation has some validity generic roots are used to interpret the signs; these can be found in any Semitic language dictionary “.
Dr Winters transliteration:
Come down ( into the earth) and spread this.....
Strain and pacify the water (in the area)
Come and spread ( within this region).Grace.
Go out ( among the land) and become strong.
Dr Winters further commented: “ It would be interesting if this area was settled in the past and provided arable land and water for the ancient farmers”. (Reproduced with permission from Dr Winters).
This question can be answered by reference to Papers concerning extensive research in the Rio Grande de Nasca drainage by Dr Helaine Silverman (Associate Professor & Chair, Dept. of Anthropology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) and Dr David Browne, (Government Archaeologist, Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales) conducting a similar programme of research in the Rio Palpa , Rio Viscas & Rio Grande river valley areas. Both confirm there is substantial evidence of extensive domestic habitation sites, civic/ceremonial centres, architecture and cemetery sites occupied at the time of the Nasca Culture, 200 BC - 600 AD.
David Johnson (Adjunct Research Associate, Department of Anthropology, University of Massachusetts) and a team of hydrogeologists and archaeologists are currently in the Palpa region studying archaeological sites affiliated to surface geoglyphic activity ,sub-terranean water flows (aquifers) and their associated puquios (wells). Similar research activity is being conducted by Dr Markus Reindel of KAVA (Kommission fur Allgemeine und Vergleichende Archaeologie ) .
(By drawing the readers attention to the above programmes of research the author wishes to make it clear that the Persons and Institutions named are not associated in any way with the Nascodex project , or any conclusions drawn by the author).
In his transliteration of the Palpa Inscription, Dr Winters appears quite unknowingly to have stumbled upon possibly the correct interpretation of the text- a dedication instruction by a “Priest-God” exhorting his followers to :
Come, carve (dig) down into the earth,
Pacify ,control and increase the waters,
Make them flow forth into the region,
Gaining grace and favour,
Go out among the people ,become
strong Leaders.
Authors interpretation.
The question still remains; Who was the Priest-God and his Followers ; When and where did they come from ?. An inscription written in Ethiopic script 200-300 B.C. Knowledge of water hydraulics similar to that used in Iran for many centuries (qanats) - located on a desert pampa 3500 kms across the other side of the world from Southern Arabia ?.Many questions still need to be answered.
UP-DATE :
The 3rd century B.C. date for the “Phoenician “ inscription has been strengthened by discovery of potsherds in the region of Palpa ( Reindel/Isla 1999 ) attributed to the Paracas /Middle Ocucaje Phase, i.e. circa 300 B.C. It is not known if artifacts of this period were found within or around stone heaps making up inscription characters.
The transliteration by Dr Clyde Winters has an added dimension also: A study by Jeanette Sherbondy ( 1982 ) and we quote.....”A modern myth from Puquio ( Ayacucho ) states that ancestors travelled sub-terranean aquatic routes. The ancestors created springs and openings in the earth. They distributed lands and waters to each people”.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Aveni, Anthony. F. “Between the Lines” (Univ. Texas Press. 2000)
Browne,Dr David M . "Further archaeological reconnaisance in the Province of Palpa".
Contributions to New World archaeology. Oxford: Oxbow Books.
"Peru’s Nasca Lines point to water sources" - suggests U.Mass researchers http://www.umass.edu
Reindel, Markus and Isla Johny, ( 1999 ) Das Palpa - Tal: Ein Archiv der Vorgesichte Perus. Geheimnisvolle im alten Peru, ed. Judith Rickenbach (1985) pp.177 - 98 Museum Rietberg, Zurich, Switzerland.( cited in “The Nasca”).
Silverman Helaine (1990) "Beyond the Pampa: the Geoglyphs in the Valleys of Nazca" National Geographic Research 6(4):435 - 456.
Silverman H, Browne DM (1991)"New evidence for the date of the Nazca Lines" Antiquity 65 (1991 ) 208 - 20.
Silverman - Proulx: “The Nasca “. (Blackwell Publishing. UK and USA 2002 ).
Sherbondy, Jeanette ( 1982 ) The canal systems of Hanan Cuzco. Un-published dissertation, Dept. of Anthropology, University of Illinois at Urbana - Champaign.(cited in “The Nasca”).
Subject matter has full copyright protection under reference INPI 124427. Reproduction and distribution prohibited without permission from NASCODEX.
I don't have a problem with the idea of contact with West Africa but how would there be actual migration?
Posts: 4028 | From: NW USA | Registered: May 2005
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quote:Other questions arise... If Van Sertima was right about the Olmecs, why are there no such monumental heads in West Africa? If Africans were such intrepid mariners, how come it seems the Indonesians were the first to colonize Madagascar? Why did the Malians (or whoever) stop sailing, leaving the Portuguese and Spanish to initiate the age of discovery?
One is forgetting that the Swahili sailed their own ships all the way to China and India and when the Axumites held the coast they also send ships overseas, The Kushities send ambassadors to The court of Isreal by ships made of reed and don't forget the Kemites were not sloppy sailors themselves.
Olmec I am not ruling anything in or out but usually people don't sit around waiting for others to come and give them civilization they may contribute to that culture but not originate it however civilization in Meso-America is extremely old.
More than likely they may have done so periodically remember at their height their empire rival the size of continental United States so long term settlements and mass colonization were not needed but we do have on record reports from Columbus and others on trade that continued right up to his time.
He Columbus says in his Journal of the Second Voyage, and this is quoted in many places, not just in his journal, that when he was in Haiti, which was then called Espanola, the native Americans came to him and told him that Black-skinned people had come from the south and southeast in boats, trading in gold-tipped metal spears. And that "Columbus wanted to find out what the Indians of Espanola told him, that there had come from the south and southeast, Negro people who brought those spear points made of a metal which they call "guanin". So he sent sent samples to the king and queen for assay and which were found to have 32 parts - 18 of gold, 6 of silver, and 8 of copper.
The results then were astonishing and the ratio or proportion of gold, silver and copper alloys were found to be identical (and the key word here is "identical") with spears then being forged in African Guinea.
Vasco Nunez de Balboa, 25 September 1513, coming down the slopes of Quarequa, which is near Darien (now called Panama) saw two tall black men who had been captured by the native Americans." And further, that Peter Martyr, "said that Negroes had been shipwrecked in that area and had taken refuge in the mountains. Martyr refers to them as `Ethiopian pirates.'
"Lopez de Gomara also describes the blacks Europeans sighted for the first time in Panama: `These people are identical with the Negroes we have seen in Guinea.' De Bourbourg also reports that there were two peoples indigenous to Panama--the Mandinga (black skin) and the Tule (red skin)."
Posts: 6546 | From: japan | Registered: Feb 2009
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posted
Osirion If you are not ready for E.T aliens and Atlantis then leave Erik Von Daniken out of this.
Posts: 6546 | From: japan | Registered: Feb 2009
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quote:Originally posted by Brada-Anansi: Osirion If you are not ready for E.T aliens and Atlantis then leave Erik Von Daniken out of this.
The above is a picture of one of the Nazca lines. Are you claiming the nazca lines were made by aliens? This is not the view of South American archaeologist.
quote:The above is a picture of one of the Nazca lines. Are you claiming the nazca lines were made by aliens? This is not the view of South American archaeologist.
No I was referring to Osirion's use of Daniken's materiel look at the caption.
Posts: 6546 | From: japan | Registered: Feb 2009
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The Manding mentioned in the Mexican traditions of 1325, may represent the founders of Anasazi civilization of Four Corners section of the United States. Anasazi, is a Navajo word which means "Ancient Ones" for the founders of the spectacular cliff dwellings and great multistoried pueblos erected on open plains near the San Juan, Salt and Little Colorado rivers.
Although American anthropologists accept the theory that the Amerindians entered North America across the Bering Strait about 20000-15000 years ago , the Hopis, on the contrary say their ancestors crossed the sea during their emergence to this present Fourth World, arriving somewhere along the coast of Mexico or Central America, then gradually worked their way northward to settle in their present homes in the Four Corners region.
They call the original inhabitants of the cliff dwellings "Ancient Ones". These Anasazi were probably Manding speakers. The ruins of their great stone cities are crouched low on the Mesa tops or nestled in caves along the sheer canyon walls of this high desert region. These stone cities are exact replicas of stone cities cliff dwellings found in West African areas that formerly formed part of the Mali empire, especially the Dogon towns. These Ancient Ones, may have been members of the mande speaking group.
Four Corner Cliff Dwellings West African Cliff Dwellings
Anasazi is a Navajo word which means “Ancient Ones” for the founders of the spectacular cliff dwellings and great multistoried pueblos erected on open plains near San Juan, and the Salt and Little Colorado rivers. The Anasazi or manding tilled the earth and even irrigated their crops, and stored some of the harvest for later use.
There were many African communities found by the Spainish in the Southern part of the United Staes and Florida [1].
Quatrefages speaks of black men who penetrated to the American southwest while other Africans migrated into Southern California [2]. And as late as 1775, Father Francisco Garces discovered a race of Black men, clearly African, residing in a community beside the Zuni Indians in New Mexico. According to Quatrefages the two races spoke different languages.
In 1528, the Spanish explorer Cabeza de Vaca and Estevanico the Moor (Blackman) from Azamor discovered numerous people living in the American Southwest as they sought to discover the Seven Cities of Cibola. The Seven Cities of Cibola were suppose to be centers where fantastic amounts of gold could be found.
In what is now known as Four Corners region where the states of Utah, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona come together at a common point the Anasazi tilled the earth and even irrigated their crops, and stored some of the harvest for later use.
The presence of Manding in Four Corners, is supported by the appearance of Dogon and Bambara ideograms, called petroglyphs, on rocks in the Anasazi area. Moreover, there are several tablets found in Four Corners which have been deciphered that were written in an aspect of Malinke.
In the Four Corners region de Vaca, found various ethnic groups speaking a multiplicity of languages. Due to the pluralistic nature of these societies the people could only communicate using sign language . Ceram noted that:
“In reality the inhabitants of the pueblos, as we now know, were members of extraordinarily varied tribes. They spoke widely differentlanguages and had different historical backgrounds”[3].
De Vaca said that one of these ethnic groups was named Mendica[4]. This name is almost identical to the word Mandinka (Malinke), the name of one of the Manding speaking people.
In the Anasazi area we find many depictions of the Malinke- Bambara habitation sign and Kangaba sign in the American southwest. This sign is frequently found in West Africa, in areas settled by the Mande speaking people. The Kangaba sign, is clearly depicted among the glyphs found in the Guijus range of southern Arizona.
Southwest Petroglyph
The ruins of the Anasazi stone cities are crouched low on the Mesa tops or nestled in caves along the sheer canyon walls of this high desert region. These stone cities are the exact replica of stone cliff dwellings found in West African areas that formerly formed part of the Mali empire, especially the Dogon towns.
Dogon Cliff Dwelling
Due to the spread of nomadic Amerindians from the northwest,the Anasazi were forced from their stone cities and cliff dwellings by the invaders. There was probably some intermarriage between Africans and Amerindians and today we see a negroid strain among the southwestern Amerindian populations[5]. In addition many African communities were found in the Southwest when Europeans arrived in this part of the United States.
Mesa Verde Mande Habitation Sign
In summary the archaeological and historical evidence from Africa and the Americas coupled with the decipherment of ancient scripts used in the New World illustrates that people from ancient Mali, probably led by Mansa Abubakari, colonized many parts of the Americas during the first quarter of the 14th Century A.D. These Mande speaking people, like the Olmecs before them had a tremendous influence on American civilizations especially in the development of trade in Mexico .
Footnotes:
1 M.O. y Berra, Historia antique y de Conquista de Mexico, Mexico, 1960.
2 L.H. Clegg, “The Black origin of American civilization”, A Current Biblioraphy on African Affairs, No.1 (1976),pp.2-22.
3 C.W. Ceram, The First Americans, (New York,1971) p.70.
4. Ibid.,
5 P.S. Martin, G.I. Quimby and D. Collier, Indians Before Columbus, (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1970) p.19.
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Many mounds excavated in South America dating back to the period of Mansa Abubakari's expedition to the Americas have yielded many artifacts depicting Africans. The major centers for Malian mound habitation outside of Mexico and the United States were situated in Brazil, Panama and Venezuela.
In Brazil there are many megalithic structures that seem to have their prototypes in Africa. For example, in Alagoas we find many stone monuments similar to the stone circles made by rock which denoted burial sites in West Africa.
The habitation mounds in Brazil are called sambuquis. Some of the sambuquis have radio-carbon dates going back to pre-history, while many of the mounds where artifacts have been found are related to the cultures of Venezuela, and have radio-carbon dates contemporaneous with the Malian voyages.
The mounds in Venezuela are situated along local rivers.1 Practically all of the ancient figurines from Venezuela are of Africans. African males are commonly represented on many ancient American sites. The art from Venezuela, on the other hand indicate that many of the African settlers were females.
The archaeological evidence which links the Venezuelan mound cultures to the Malian voyage to America and Sudan mound cultures in general date between A.D. 1150-1500.These blacks lived in eastern Venezuela. They were riverine people who used boats to communicate with each far-flung community.
The artifacts relating to the malian expansion in Venezuela were situated in the Valencia basin at the point where the Andes joins the Cordillera del Caribe, behind the coastal area of Puerto Cabello, the Llanos, a large expanse of the lowland extending up and along the Orinoco river.
The Malians established the Valencoid and Arauquinoid culture series in Period IV (c. 1150-1500) of Venezuelan history. These sites are situated along the middle and lower Orinoco river. As mentioned earlier the Orinoco river was a main settle-ment area for blacks in the New World.
The Manding of the Arauquinoid series were farmers. Archaeologists have discovered many hammer grinders, incised head lugs, with coffee-bean eyes and bowls of all styles with applique features like faces on collars including the coffee-bean eyes.
The Valencoid style comprises pottery from the mound site of the Valencia Basin. Here the dead were buried in urns identical to those used in West Africa. The Valencoid pottery is usually red and white, while some were tri-colored pottery: red-black and white, as in the El Topo style. The Vallencoid people also made collars decorated with human faces. The artifacts from Valencia corresponds to artifacts discovered by the French scholar Desplagnes, when he excavated mounds along the Niger river at the turn of the century.In the funeral chambers of these mounds he found numerous pots with a red slip, and copper instruments.
This Niger Bend painted ware is of the white-on Dark red-brown variety. It corresponds to the white-on-red painted pottery from the El Mayal style of Venezuela [2].
Another possible Manding/Malian site in Venezuela is the Terroid series of western Venezuela. The radio-carbon date for this series of pottery is A.D. 1350. The pottery was painted and decorated with various combinations of red, black and white. We also see other motifs including the spiral, and tiny birds.
The figurines from Tiero are of women in a sitting position with the right knee raised higher than the left, and the right hand placed on the knee. The buttocks serve as the base.
Barrancos Style Pottery
The statues from the Barrancoid series have been dated to A.D. 1300-1350. These artifacts may have been made by the Malians given their date of origin.
In the Barrancoid series we see blacks in anthropomorphic form. Miguel G. Arroyo in Arte Prehispanico de Venezuela , noted that the art of the Barrancoid series is similar to art styles found in contemporary Zaire, especially among the Mangebetu.
The Barrancoid style includes beautiful vases and effigy jars. They made statuettes of women and men either sitting on three-legged stools or in the sitting position with their legs and knees serving as a base, and the hands lying on the knee as in the case of the statue discovered in Djenne by the french archaeologist Mauny. This setting position was common in Malian art.
Those Venezuelan humanoids sitting on stools seem to be either eating out of bowls or in a thinking position. The stool serves as a base for the statue and the hands on the statue are placed on the knees. All the men and women figures have holes in their ears, the men wear girdles, while the women are nude.
In summary, the artifacts excavated in the ancient mounds of the New World indicate that Africans built many of these mounds. The fact that many art styles and artifacts recovered from these mounds illustrate similar themes suggest an origin for the mound builders from a common ideological system. This system originated in the Fertile African Crescent :the ancient Sahara, and was prominently illustrated in the art, literature and culture of ancient Egypt. As a result many researchers have been able to find analogy between ancient Egyptian culture elements and Meso-American culture features.
The fact that many of the mound builders in the Americas had culture items and iconographic representations identical to those found in the western Sudan resulted from the fact that much of West Africa around the Niger bend was not settled until after 500 B.C. Therefore ,those migrants that did settle the Americas would have come either from the area bordering on the Guinea Coast, or from middle Africa after the Sahara began to dry up.
The Mande speaking people dominated much of the region in Northwest and West Africa where the ancient Niger river formerly emptied in the Sahara. This led to their important role in the spread of cultural features which originated in the Fertile African Crescent to the Americas between 1500 B.C., and Columbus' discovery of the Americas.
1. Alfred Kidder, Archaeology of Northwest Venezuela. Peabody Museum Papers, vol.26.
2. L. Desplanges,"Etude dur les tumuli du Kulli dans la region de Goundam", L'Anthropologie, vol. 14, pp.151-172; and Desplagnes, "Notes sur les Origines des Populations Nigeriennes", L'Anthropologie, vol.17, pp.525-546.
Posts: 13012 | From: Chicago | Registered: Jan 2006
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The Manding mentioned in the Mexican traditions of 1325, may represent the founders of Anasazi civilization of Four Corners section of the United States. Anasazi, is a Navajo word which means "Ancient Ones" for the founders of the spectacular cliff dwellings and great multistoried pueblos erected on open plains near the San Juan, Salt and Little Colorado rivers.
While I don't agree with most of the hyper-diffusionist theories of some of the more "prominent" afrocentrists when it comes to the re-discovery of the Americas by Mande sailors, the similarities here to the Tellem structures of Mali are indeed superficially striking and I guess, worth noting.
^^Edit: Ok, credit to Clyde for already catching on to that.
Posts: 4021 | From: Bay Area, CA | Registered: Mar 2007
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posted
Clyde I like the connection between the Olmec/Mayan calendar and the Mande calabash calendar .I think they also connect with the Egyptian denderah calendar .Somebody say the rise and fall of civilization was base on astrology .
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